Acres Archives: Farmers hold the key
Five billion hectares of global agricultural land can sequester 37 gigatonnes of CO2 per annum - nearly all of the world’s CO2 output
AGRICULTURE can be the saviour of the world’s climate change disaster but only if governments bite the bullet and enact legislation.
That is the message Andre Leu imparted to delegates at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December 2009. And there are plenty of others who concur with his views and say the world’s leaders are starting to see sense.
Mr Leu led a delegation of leading scientists to the world think- tank focused on world leaders agreeing to change their practices. He represented the Organic Federation of Australia (OFA) and the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM).
“Organic agriculture has the potential to sequester nearly all the carbon dioxide that is generated by human activities, it has the ability to sequester 37 gigatonnes of the 38 gigatonnes CO2 produced every year,” Mr Leu said.
Graeme Sait of Nutri-Tech Solutions (NTS) said the populace is starting to realise that the earth is a giant organism and the “cheap, oil- fuelled, post-war party was coming to an end.” NTS is an Australian company that specialises in the relationship between soil, animal and human health. “If the entire world cut emissions completely tomorrow, in 200 years’ time we would drop down to 1970’s levels (of greenhouse gases) which is still too high,” Mr Sait said. He said it was feasible for the situation to be turned around, if there was enough commitment.
“There is no other choice. Agriculture’s going to save the planet or the planet won’t be saved. I see this as the dawn of a golden era for agriculture. Conventional agriculture has been detrimental to the planet. It’s going to take some strong political will. All of these things have to become law at some point.” He is confident there is a groundswell of Australian farmers and leaders who acknowledge the future of agriculture. “It’s not some little thing anymore. Farmers have known that they needed to change.” Mr Sait referred to a National Australia Bank survey looking at 800 farms in the Hilston area of New South Wales, which found the one factor that made a farm viable or not was humus in the soil. “It’s just common sense. Humus is the glue of the soil.”
Max Hansford of TNN Industries, says political policy has determined many of the world’s environmental problems. TNN Industries has been operating for more than 12 years, with company founder Mr Max Hansford having spent a lifetime in agriculture, particularly in advanced methods of farming sustainably and with biological technology, also studying advanced methods of farming at the leading edge of sustainable technology. Mr Hansford said farming “chemically” wrecked the soil and killed any organic matter it once held.
“I don’t believe it’s all to do with climate change. It’s to do with farming practices. I believe it comes down to very bad chemical or nutrient practices. I recently tested the Brix value of some commercially- grown bok choi and it had the same nutrient value as my saliva,” he said.
“I get so upset that we have a government that hasn’t got enough ‘teeth’ to bring about change,” he said. “We need to try to get the balance back in the soil.”
He called on farmers to start growing food sustainably - by putting nutrients back into the soil and not putting chemicals in that would destroy its vital flora.
“We need to solve the problem, not put a band-aid on the symptom. I’d like to think the solution rests squarely on education of our farmers and our politicians.”
‘Treating agricultural emissions like power stations’
The International Federation of Agricultural Producers president Ajay Vashee (Zambia) said one out of three people on this planet work in agriculture, and as a consequence farmers are the largest ecosystem managers.
“We expect the full integration of agriculture in the climate change negotiations highlighting the specificities of agriculture as an affected sector, recognition of farmers’ organizations as partners on climate change and recognition and rewards for farmers for carbon sequestration practices in any carbon accounting system that is developed.”
National Farmers Federation president David Crombie told delegates the world’s farmers stand ready to act on climate change. He said the Kyoto rules give an inaccurate picture of agriculture’s contribution to global warming.
“The current rules treat agricultural emissions like a power station. They take no account of the natural agricultural carbon cycle.”
He added that Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol makes it difficult for farm bio- sequestration to be acknowledged and rewarded. “Under this article, there are liabilities for natural processes such as droughts and bushfires - processes beyond farmers’ control.
“This goes against the core principles of the Kyoto Protocol. That is - to bring about a reduction in human induced climate change.”
The IFOAM delegates at Copenhagen included scientists such as Dr Urs Niggli from FiBL, Europe’s largest organic research station and Dr Tim LaSalle for the Rodale Institute, the largest organic research station in the USA.
Scientists from other universities and research institutes as well as delegated from leading organic sector organisations such as the UK Soil Association and ICEA also participated.
“It is critical that governments and policy makers are aware of the studies showing that the widespread adoption of organic agriculture has the potential to sequester nearly all the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) that is generated by human activities.
“It has the ability to sequester 37 gigatonnes of the 38 gigatonnes CO2 produced through human activities every year,” Mr Leu said.
“Most importantly, it can help reduce poverty by increasing yields for small holders in the developing world and through extra income by paying farmers for the CO2 that they sequester.”
CO2 is the main greenhouse gas (GHG) that scientists believe is responsible for climate change. He added that according to the latest technical report (AR 4 Synthesis Report) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “Its [CO2] annual emissions have grown between 1970 and 2004 by about 80 per cent, from 21 to 38 gigatonnes (Gt), and represented 77 per cent of total anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2004”.
Long term studies by the Rodale institute show that organic agriculture can sequester 7.4 tonnes CO2 per Hectare per year.
“During the 1990s, results from the Compost Utilization Trial (CUT) at Rodale Institute . . . a 10-year study . . . show that the use of composted manure with crop rotations in organic systems can result in carbon sequestration of up to 2,000 lbs/ac/year. [2,000 kg/ha/year] (LaSalle,T. and Hepperly, P. 2008).
“Soil carbon is multiplied by 3.7 to get the amount of CO2 that is sequestered from the atmosphere. This means the 2,000kg of carbon in the soil has sequestered 7,400kg (7.4t) of CO2 from the atmosphere,” he said.
“If these organic systems were applied to the 5.0 billion hectares of global agricultural land, it gives the potential to sequester 37 gigatonnes of CO2 per year - nearly all of the world’s CO2 output.” Paying farmers for the carbon they sequester into the soil can be one of the most effective ways to alleviate poverty, Mr Leu said.
The long term Rodale farming comparison trials showed organic systems sequestered an average of 7.4 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year into the soil. The current price per tonne of CO2 on the European Climate Exchange is about 13 Euros (A$21.50)
“Good organic farmers could earn around $160 per hectare per year on top of the money they earn from their crops,” said Mr Leu. ‘‘This would be a significant income boost for most farmers especially for the millions of smallholders in the developing world who live on less than $400 a year.
‘Paying farmers for the carbon they sequester into the soil can be one of the most effective ways to alleviate poverty’ - Andre Leu
“Currently only farm forestry is included in the Kyoto carbon trading protocols and this ties up good agricultural land from food production and prevents farmers from receiving an income from a wide variety of crops.
“By including soil carbon, farmers can earn money from both their crops and the carbon they sequester. Very importantly the land can be used for food production.”
He added that according to a UN study, organic agriculture increased yields by 116 per cent. “The report by the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that organic agriculture increases yields in Africa. ‘. . . the average crop yield was . . . 116 per cent increase for all African projects and 128 per cent increase for the projects in East Africa.’
“The United Nations report stated: ‘All case studies which focused on food production in this research where data have been reported have shown increases in per hectare productivity of food crops, which challenges the popular myth that organic agriculture cannot increase agricultural productivity’.”
The report notes that despite the introduction of conventional agriculture in Africa food production per person is 10 per cent lower now, than in the 1960s.
“The evidence presented in this study supports the argument that organic agriculture can be more conducive to food security in Africa than most conventional production systems, and that it is more likely to be sustainable in the long term,” Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary general of UNCTAD and Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP stated. (Unep-Unctad 2008)
The majority of the world’s farmers are small holders like the African farmers. They are some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the world.
Training farmers in improved organic farming practices has a proven track record of improving their yields as well as delivering a range of social and environmental benefits.
“Combining this with a soil carbon trading scheme has great potential to improve the standard of living of the majority of the world’s farmers,” Mr Leu said.
‘No other industry has the potential of organic agriculture to significantly reduce greenhouse gases, increase productivity and alleviate poverty for the world’s poorest farmers’ - Andre Leu
Less greenhouse gas
An energy analysis of the Rodale Institute’s Farming Systems Trial (FST) showed a 33 per cent reduction in fossil- fuel use for organic farming systems. This translates to less greenhouse gas emissions.
“Moreover, Rodale Institute’s organic rotational no- till system can reduce the fossil fuel needed to produce each no- till crop by up to 75 per cent compared to standardtilled organic crops. (LaSalle,T. and Hepperly, P. 2008) (Pimentel D et al 2005).”
Energy use
Energy used in different corn production systems expressed in litres of diesel per hectare:
Conventional Tillage: 231 litres per hectare; Conventional No- till: 199 litres per hectare; Organic Tillage: 121 litres per hectare; Organic No- till: 77 litres per hectare (Pimentel D et al 2005)
Mr Leu said the critical information from the Rodale trials was that the organic system that uses the least energy has the highest yields.
“The 2006 trials resulted in organic yields of 160 bushels an acre (bu/ac) compared to the country average of 130 bu/ac.
“. . . the average corn yield of the two organic no- till production fields was 160 bu/ac, while the no- till research field plots averaged 146 bu/ac over 24 plots.
“The standard- till organic production field yielded 143 bu/ ac, while the Farming Systems Trial’s (FST’s) standard- till organic plots yielded 139 bu/ac in the manure system (which received compost but no vetch N inputs) and 132 bu/ac in the legume system (which received vetch but no compost).
“At the same time, the FST’s non-organic standard- till field yielded 113 bu/ac. (Rodale 2006)
“No other industry has the potential of organic agriculture to significantly reduce greenhouse gases, increase productivity and alleviate poverty for the world’s poorest farmers,” Mr Leu said.
“Governments around the world need to include organic agriculture in their climate change policies and actively promote its adoption.
“Furthermore, after years of neglect, serious funding is needed into organic Research and Development to improve on the current best practices. This will improve on the amount of CO2 that can be sequestered into the soil and improve on the yields of food and fibre.” ☐
• Acres Australia Archives January 2010 #95